Eon of Tears Released

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The big book is being retold by way of an RPG from Evillusion.

By IGN Staff

If the press release is of any indication, Eon of Tears from Evillusion will be filled with all kinds of contradicting dialog, as this is perhaps the most quote ridden and incongruous release I have ever seen in my entire time here at IGN. In any case, introducing the intriguing Eon of Tears, a first-person RPG that will also apparently appeal to survival horror fans. What sets Eon of Tears apart from the rest? Why its authentic and intelligent take on the Bible, of course. In fact, the game is an adaptation of the Christian Bible itself and chronicles everything from Creation to the End of Days (the 80s). Assumedly it will not take many thousands of years to complete the game. But it's more than that. Eon of Tears also promises to be a "rollercoaster for your eyes." Jonathan Croteau, Director of Development comments on the game's visuals and its use of the Intrinsic Alchemy engine from Intrinsic Graphics, the "fastest, most powerful 3D engine ever," as the official website asserts: "After evaluating numerous middleware solutions, we found that Intrinsic Alchemy was a very powerful and cost effective solution and it enables us to save months of development while allowing to easily go multiplatform with the game. Using our own engine would've cost a lot more with a lower level of performance. We gave a special attention to the visual aspect of the game as we tried to reproduce the environment of the time as faithfully as possible. Of course, other elements such as demons and creatures were left to the imagination of our artists. Overall we believe it represents a good balance between fidelity with historical facts and the excitement of videogames. The biblical topics allowed us every possible eccentricities and the artists were free to let there minds go as far as wanted. Since there is no one left to tell us about the destruction of the Sodom and Gomorrah cities we had to imagine what the firework was like and you will see some of these elements in the coming public demo. Elements such as churches, cathedrals and other buildings are modeled exactly according to their real-life shape and based on famous Christian constructions from all over the world."This artistry of Biblical proportions will play out over a very non-linear scenario that promises to offer players the choice to play the game as they want and meet the problems and the temptations of Evil as they choose to. Or, you can just go nuts and kill everyone. Andre Gulluni, Lead cenarist of the group explains that while other games have allowed us to do devilish things, Eon of Tears will allow us to be the devil. Peachy, I've always wanted to be the absolute worst thing ever."While trying to find a way to build an RPG around such a delicate matter, we stumbled across the idea of a Bible Code which gives special powers to those who can harness it. We then built a scenario in which the main character learns how to decode it and understand its power. Through his many experiences, he learns the true meaning of the Bible as he faces all kinds of foes, Angels and other holy and unholy creatures. The choice is left to the gamer if he wants to use that power to either save the world from the Apocalypse or destroy it in massive world-scale genocide. Being responsible for the End of Days and playing the dark angel avenging God's Wrath wielding a divine flaming sword is a pretty strong concept that will please all gamers."Remember, all of this flaming sword wielding is delivered in the first-person. Andre continues: "Imagine how it must be like to be Jesus, to see yourself nailed on the cross and to live his life in its best and worst moments. The exciting thing about the game is that we are giving a unique opportunity to incarnate Jesus and other such historical figures that are way beyond your usual action hero. The gamers will actually play in Moses skin and realize the Plagues of Egypt, they will play Jesus and walk on waters, realize miracles, fight demons and much more. Separating the sea and saving the Hebrew people should be a warm and gratifying feeling for us all. Even Jesus' crucifixion, his fall into Hell and his resurrection are featured in the storyline."Jesus and action hero in the same sentence... But don't worry, this Biblically authentic game won't be full of "abundant clichés and the moralistic tone of most Christian based material." God knows all that crappy Christian morality the Bible time and again mentions in such a " clichéd" fashion can really start to bug. Someone named Rapha¿l D.Groulx elaborates: "Although most of what you'll see in the game is serious material that can be related to actual modern studies or various interpretations from around the world, a lot of elements had to be added, modified or truncated to improve the gameplay and the overall level of action. Let's just say we were not afraid of controversy in our approach and the point is not to try convincing gamers of the righteousness of the Bible's message. We are rather trying to illustrate various interpretations that many consider only to be better understandings of the Bible's texts real meaning. We are not just pushing a story, it's almost like a philosophical reflexion on our Faith, our beliefs and our perception of the World's greatest story ever."See, they're not pushing the story... They're just pushing their beliefs and their perceptions of the story. Let's check out the features, shall we?

Non-linear play

Semi turn-based fighting mode

Random combat

Realistic weapons and magic (unrealistic magic is the worstin games)

Intelligent analysis of the Bible, complete with magic and action hero Jesus

Other ethnicities and religions can use their own gods to help you (now that's some Bible authenticity)And here comes the kicker... The first full-featured public demo will be released this autumn, but the final release isn't scheduled until spring of 2004 for three platforms. PC is one, the other two are unknown (could be GCN, Xbox, PS2, Linux, Mac, NUON, toaster). Check the 70 MB trailer if you dare.